Saturday, March 6, 2021

Reading 06

 Reading 06 Doing









What is  the purpose of writing a paragraph?



Last week I outlined the themes of my topic, using coding documents methods, and now I should write paragraphs for each theme.

However, starting the writing process I should indicate the aim of my paragraph ,as the reader wants to know what the paragraph is about first of all, then include some evidence such as quotes, interviews or paraphrases and give an interpretation.

Each paragraph should have 5 sentences, including conclusion.

I used my 5 annotated bibliography articles for writing the paragraphs, and I found this method useful, and saving my time.

As my topic is about goals of game characters, so I discussed different authors' points of view to the game characters.

Some of them are talking about character roles importance in the game, others are mentioning the emotional bond of character and even ambitions.

Also, the game designers are thinking how it is important to give a background, taste and make the game characters more marketable and memorable.



Image Info: image


“Unique Characters”

 

   Every game designer is thinking about how to design the character that will look unique and     different from the other characters.


“In this regard character creation can lead to successful entertainment franchises which match the preferences of different types of consumers and cater to the growth of new marketing structures” (JOHNSON 2009). 


 "Characters, like people, make good or bad first impressions. When characters first show up in a story, we start to like them − or dislike them − right away" (CARD 1990, p. 98). 


Character must be a unique persona for the players, having background, goals, needs and motive, and the main objective of the game character designers  enabling the character to interact with others. When game players  choose their characters,(avatars),they are paying attention to their appearance, and where the character is going to take them, what journey it is-hard, simple or even fascinating. 


To convince the game player, the game character should be built on high standards. Sometimes a bad design might lose appeal to the players, and many video games become unsuccessful and fail in the game market.

ISBISTER, K. (2006) Better Game Characters by Design. A psychological Approach. San Francisco, California: Morgan Kaufmann. Source


“Powerful Characters” 


The video game character designers achieved the dual goals of entertaining people with special needs and diseases through character modeling and character dialogue.

A video game environment, using game characters and avatars to promote observational learning, creating personalized experiences through tailoring, and the importance of achieving a balance between “fun-ness” and “seriousness.” (Debbe Thompson,)

When game Character designers start to design a character for  a serious video game, firstly they might consult with a behaviour scientist and be guided by them.

Game characters or avatars are playing the main role in a serious video game, as they are teaching the players how to reduce risk of obesity and diabetes-promoting them health diet and physical activities, or people with cancer using the character to destroy the bad cells and get treatments.


Consequently, through the game characters the players can achieve some goals ,solutions, problem solving, self-monitoring. Observing their avatar with the similar appearance they can “coping style” and change their behaviour :positive or negative.

Kristine L. Nowak, Christian Rauh :"The Influence of the Avatar on Online Perceptions of Anthropomorphism, Androgyny, Credibility, Homophily, and Attraction",Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Volume 11, Issue 1, 1 November 2005, Pages 153–178.Source


“Character’s behaviour”


Many video games have been designed around character, laying as a” narrative", despite some scientist debate around it until now, mentioning that video game characters can’t be assigned as a narrative, as the character-avatars are just  people’s  imagination, and it's an equipment, tools that humans are playing for fun and entertaining.

According to Eder, characters “are set apart from the other elements of fictional worlds – refrigerators, mountains, trees – by their intentional (object related) inner life; that is, by having perceptions, thoughts, motives, and emotions” (Eder 2010, 17). 


Eder, Jonnidas and Schneider have tended to consider that the characters in video games are “textual structures” ,” paradigm of traits” , or even “surface feature of discourse", however the cognitive approaches assume that “characters are the part of imagination in the player's mind”.

Therefore, in contemporary video games the players can  use a variety of strategies in their scene, even they can change the mode `ludic events” while the game is played.


.Felix Schröter and Jan-Noël Thon:" Video Game Characters- Theory and Analysis" .Source

“Creation of characters”


The most challenging portion of game development is creating good characters.

The Unity game engine has a few features, making it the best software ,more user-friendly-WYSIWYG-”what you see is what you get” and drag-and-drop features


To create a commercial- quality game using 3D art ,the game designers needs to have some knowledge of visual art, animation, creative narrative writing, sound/audio design and programming/coding/script abilities. The important concept not only to design the game character visually engaging but also make them marketable. 

The best way to start designing your 3d character is a Blender. It’s an ideal platform for creating game assets, then transforming to the Unity game engine for your own video game design. 

When the game character designers are planning characters, first they should produce ideas for their characters backgrounds, tastes, religious beliefs, and include more details telling who they are.


Christopher Totten, Washington ,D.C,(2012):"Game Character Creation with Blender and Unity,(pp.4-5)Source-TU Blanchardstown Library




“Characters Ambitious”


Many game players first of all are focused on the interesting game characters, and to develop it, the players might get under the skin of characters for better understanding their ambitions, fears, sorrows and motivations.


“Game developer Lee Sheldon argues for the use of characters as the driving narrative force in computer games (Sheldon 2004, p.31). Borrowing a term from screenwriting lingo, he calls all game characters that fuel progression and make the action move forward pivotal characters (Sheldon 2004, p.42-43). He argues that the protagonist PC or antagonist characters most often occupy pivotal roles, but states that sidekicks or companions also may take this position”.


All these strategies can help the player to get closer to the character through interactive emotions.

Sheldion’s approach to character roles in the game demonstrates the empathy between the players and characters building the emotional bond.

To create a powerful narrative effect, the players might establish empathy with  companions  in both games. The game characters should have an interesting and deep background full of uniqueness, emotions and originality.

To make the companions more interesting and deep, it should be indicated in their attitudes and behaviour, that make them original and unique.

Kristine Jørgensen Eludamos:"Game Characters as Narrative Devices. A Comparative Analysis of Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2 . Journal for Computer Game Culture. 2010; 4 (2), p. 315-331 Source


2 comments:

  1. After reading through I can say that I like what is written here. Everything is brief and straight to the point. Everything is simple to read and understand. Although, there are some bits where the paragraphs can be spaced out more but overall its well-written.

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